Health care costs skyrocketing - why? Can you afford health insurance?

[anzibar]

Employer health insurance premiums increased in 2008 by 5.0 percent – that is two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,700. The annual premium for single coverage averaged over $4,700.

Health care costs are skyrocketing, why? What is going on? I can't afford to pay so much money for health insurance, so I am thinking about canceling my plan. What do you do? Do you go without one?

[bugibar]

It really is ridiculous what is going on in the USA with the health care. My sister had to have her apendix removed, and she did not have any health insurance because as a student she could not afford one. The price tag - $17,000! She is at the start of her life and already having to pay "mortgage" on her apendix.

[pawel]

It really is ridiculous what is going on in the USA with the health care. My sister had to have her apendix removed, and she did not have any health insurance because as a student she could not afford one. The price tag - $17,000! She is at the start of her life and already having to pay "mortgage" on her apendix.

Oh, man, that sux. I heard about a story where an accident resulted in a man having two detached fingers. The pricetag of the surgery to attach one finger was $40,000, and the pricetag on the other surgery to fix the other finger was $60,000. He did not have enough money, so he had to choose which finger to go with. I think it is a great mirror of our society, of our devastation of moral principles. Doctors are here to help people, to save their lives. How do they help if their services are based decisions dictated by money??!!